... the poll series has dropped its reporting of partisan identification within their samples. It’s the second time that the poll has not included the D/R/I split in its sample report, and now it looks as though this will be policy from this point forward. Since this is a poll series that has handed double-digit partisan advantages to Democrats in the past (for instance, this poll from April 2011 where the sample only had 22% Republicans), it’s not enough to just hear “trust us” on sample integrity from the Washington Post or ABC.

It’s the city’s most expensive co-op apartment — and it can be all yours for a cool $65 million. Songwriter Denise Rich — ex-wife of presidential-pardon recipient Marc Rich — is putting her Fifth Avenue penthouse on the selling block. With such a staggering price tag, a buyer can expect a bit more than the basic luxury amenities. The digs are so expansive that Rich — who penned the lyrics to such hits as the Aretha Franklin-Mary J. Blige duet, “Don’t Waste Your Time,” and Mandy Moore’s “Candy” — once converted one of her three terraces into a professional-grade figure-skating...

...given the enormity of what he inherited, and given what he explicitly promised, it remains simply a fact that Obama has delivered in a way that the unhinged right and purist left have yet to understand or absorb. Their short-term outbursts have missed Obama’s long game—and why his reelection remains, in my view, as essential for this country’s future as his original election in 2008.

...given the enormity of what he inherited, and given what he explicitly promised, it remains simply a fact that Obama has delivered in a way that the unhinged right and purist left have yet to understand or absorb. Their short-term outbursts have missed Obama’s long game—and why his reelection remains, in my view, as essential for this country’s future as his original election in 2008.

In a speech to supporters, Mitt announced that it was time to wrap up this whole primary thing and get on with the business of running for office, for Pete’s sake. Today, Mitt announced that his friend in the private equity industry, Gordon Gekko, as his running mate on the Republican ticket.

Democratic Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi of Castro Valley has been charged with felony grand theft after being caught on video surveillance allegedly shoplifting more than $2,000 worth of merchandise from San Francisco’s Neiman Marcus store on Union Square, prosecutors say. Hayashi, 45, who has served in the Assembly since 2006 — and is married to Alameda Superior Court Judge Dennis Hayashi — was arraigned Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court. She had earlier posted $15,000 bail.

The disgraced lawmakers might be gone, but their campaigns live on. The handful of members of Congress who have resigned amid scandal in recent years have maintained active campaign accounts, federal records show, and they have spent tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions on legal fees, travel, public relations consultants and, in at least one case, the salary of a family member. Former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) spent more than $130,000 in campaign funds in the three months after he resigned from the House on June 24, according to new filings with the Federal Election Commission. That total...

While defending his call for the rich to pay more in taxes, the president said he didn’t mind people calling him a class warrior for merely asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew. Whoops! The president meant to say “janitor” instead of “Jew,” and he immediately corrected himself. After all, he doesn’t need any more problems keeping Jewish voters enthusiastic about his re-election bid.

Some 40,000 rioters sack Israeli embassy In first new disclosures on the storming of Israel's Cairo embassy which started Friday night, Sept. 9, DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources reveal that the mob was led by the terrorist Jama'a al-Islamiya, the Egyptian founding branch of Al Qaeda, and two other radical Egyptian Islamist groups. The February 1993 car bombing of the World Trade Center of New York, which was the forerunner of the Sept. 11, 2001 atrocities, was an early Jama'a operation under the al Qaeda label. Closely linked to Osama bin Laden's successor, Ayman al Zawahri, Jama'a al-Islamiya is now running for...

The Obama administration is seeking tougher sentences for people who are found guilty of hacking or other digital offenses, two officials said Wednesday... The administration argues the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act should be updated to make CFAA offenses subject to its terms. That law is used to prosecute organized crime

"For the Bachmann campaign, this is the first big challenge. It's evidence of what happens when you jump up into the top ring of these polls, and the kind of scrutiny that you get. It's going to be important for her to get her doctors out there quickly to provide medical records and to provide the reassurance that people are going to want to have that this is not a serious issue."

Important Account Notice Re: Metals Trading We wanted to make you aware of some upcoming changes to FOREX.com’s product offering. As a result of the Dodd-Frank Act enacted by US Congress, a new regulation prohibiting US residents from trading over the counter precious metals, including gold and silver, will go into effect on Friday, July 15, 2011. In conjunction with this new regulation, FOREX.com must discontinue metals trading for US residents on Friday, July 15, 2011 at the close of trading at 5pm ET. As a result, all open metals positions must be closed by July 15, 2011 at 5pm...

At the same time Tiffany & Co. was extending Callista (Bisek) Gingrich a virtual interest-free loan of tens of thousands of dollars, the diamond and silverware firm was spending big bucks to influence mining policy in Congress and in agencies over which the House Agriculture Committee–where she worked–had jurisdiction, official records show…

Friends of alleged hotel sex fiend Dominique Strauss-Kahn secretly contacted the accusing maid's impoverished family, offering them money to make the case go away since they can't reach her in protective custody, The Post has learned. The woman, who says she was sexually assaulted by the disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund, has an extended family in the former French colony of Guinea in West Africa, well out of reach of the Manhattan DA's Office.

The Obama administration is extending temporary protected status for Haitians who fled to the United States following last year's earthquake. The move will allow them to stay in the country for an additional 18 months. The temporary status was originally granted in January of 2010, just days after Haiti was hit with a massive quake. However, it would have expired in July. The extension will allow those who are eligible to stay in the U.S. through the end of January 2013. It also extends the program to Haitians who have been living in the U.S. since January 12, 2011.

Two men from East Elmhurst, Queens have been arrested and charged with plotting to blow up a Manhattan synagogue. Mayor Michael Bloomberg was joined by top city law enforcement officials at City Hall earlier today in announcing the arrests of Ahmed Ferhani, 26, and Mohamed Mamdouh, 20. Ferhani, who is from Algeria, and Mamdouh, was is from Morocco, are both charged with engaging in terrorism, weapons possession and hate crimes. An arraignment is expected later today. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says the men told undercover officers that they hated Jews and wanted to kill them. He also says they had...

Tel Aviv (DPA) -- US President Barack Obama's Jewish half brother made a secret visit to Israel last week to discover his roots, the Yediot Ahronoth daily reported Wednesday. The visit of Mark Ndesandjo, 45, was not publicised for fear that he could be targeted by militants in revenge for the US assassination of Osama bin Laden. According to the Israeli daily, one the main purposes of Ndesandjo's visit was to meet Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, to receive a blessing and a letter for his mother, Ruth Nidesand. He also visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Judaism's holiest prayer site, and...

But the Sterling partners’ reliance on Madoff’s consistent and steady returns ran further than just opening hundreds of accounts. Sterling used its BLMIS accounts as a substantial source of liquidity to develop and sustain its businesses, including professional baseball and real estate. For instance, much of the approximately $90 million of other people’s money withdrawn from the Mets’ BLMIS accounts helped fund its day-to-day operations. Sterling also used BLMIS returns to generate sufficient profits to meet capital commitments for its Sterling American Property real estate funds. Further, BLMIS returns provided the necessary cash flow to Sterling’s internal bank—Sterling Equities Funding,...

Sarah Palin, the unofficial Tea Party candidate for president, told 85 GOP freshmen Congressmen in an open letter, “Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, not a settlement.” Writing on the Fox News website, the 2008 vice presidential candidate for the Republican party advised the new legislators, “You can stand with allies like Israel, not criticize them. You can let the President know what you believe… and stick to the principles that propelled your campaigns.”

A mural approved by the Public Arts Commission under the Green Street bridge is causing a minor uproar after Underground Railroad leader Harriet Tubman leader was described as “Comrade” Tubman. In an interview, the artist said his goal is developing a “socialist movement in the United States.”

The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the Maricopa County Community College District alleging it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination in hiring authorized non-citizens. The Justice Department says its investigation revealed that Maricopa Community Colleges required all newly hired non-citizens to present additional work authorization documents beyond those required by law, but did not require U.S. citizens to do so.

ECI - led by Weekly Standard editor and uber-neo-conservative William Kristol and American Values president and former presidential candidate Gary Bauer - began targeting Democratic incumbents in Congress who had signed on to a 2009 J Street-supported letter critical of Israel’s campaign to quash rocket fire emanating from the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas, an organization labeled a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department.

The defiant wife of the cleric behind the planned mosque near Ground Zero vowed yesterday to go ahead with the project -- calling it a "history-making moment" in the fight against "Islamophobia." Daisy Khan, who founded the project along with her husband, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, said the increasing opposition -- which she blamed on Republicans -- has only caused organizers to become more committed.

According to The Korea Times, the Obama administration has blocked efforts by the South Korean government to sell over a hundred thousand surplus M1 Garand and Carbine rifles into the United States market. These self-loading were rifles introduced in 1926 and 1941. As rifles, they are especially well-suited to community defense in an emergency, as in the cases of community defense following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Along with AR-15 type rifles, the M1 rifles are the quintessential firearms of responsible citizenship, precisely the type of firearms which civic responsibility organizations such as the Appleseed Project...

In another blow to Israeli shares, the Harvard Management Company notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday that it had sold all its holdings in Israeli companies during the second quarter of 2010. No reason for the sale was mentioned. The Harvard Management Company manages Harvard University's endowment. Harvard Management Company stated in its 13-F Form that it sold 483,590 shares in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) for $30.5 million; 52,360 shares in NICE Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE: NICE) for $1.67 million; 102,940 shares in Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) for...

President Obama is releasing a plan for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 ...MDG 3: “Eliminate gender disparity,” commits to closing the gender gap in all education levels and increasing female representation in the wage employment and national parliaments.

An attack that killed at least three people, including two police officers, in the border town of Ciudad Juarez on Thursday was the result of a car bomb, the Mexican military has said. A car packed with 10 kilogrammes of explosives rammed into police vehicles and the explosion was activated with a cell-phone, the military said on Friday. Earlier, Arturo Chavez, Mexico's attorney general, said there was no evidence of "narcoterrorism as it has occurred in other countries" in the attack which injured 16 in addition to the three dead.

WASHINGTON, July 16 (UPI) -- The number of U.S. Army soldiers who committed suicide hit a record in June, statistics reveal. The Defense Department reported 32 suicides in June -- 21 active-duty troops and 11 National Guard or Reserve forces, making it the worst month on record. The Army renewed its commitment to suicide prevention and outreach to soldiers who might be at risk at a time when repeat tours of duty have taken a heavy toll on soldiers who have fought during the nine years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, USA Today reported. "The hypothesis is the same...

Vienna/Hannover, Germany (dpa) -- Police in Germany are planning to train vultures to find human remains and have obtained two young birds from an Austrian breeder, the police forensics chief of the German state of Lower Saxony said on Wednesday. Turkey vultures can cover larger areas than corpse-sniffing dogs, but the birds have to be tested first to see whether they can actually be used in criminal investigations. One of the brownish-black animals is already being trained at the Walsrode bird park near Bremen, forensic unit chief Rainer Hermann said he needed the two additional birds because turkey vultures seek...

...despite higher ridership, transit's market share (of transit and motor vehicles) has fallen since the 1950s. In 1955, transit's market share was over 10%. By 2005, transit’s share had dropped to 1.5%, but recovered only to 1.6% in 2008. Transit's all time peak ridership was in 1945, driven up by World War II and gas rationing. It is thus not surprising that national transit ridership (boardings) declined 3.8% in 2009 as gasoline prices moderated. Demographia has released urban area roadway and transit market share estimates for 2008, based upon Federal Transit Administration and Federal Highway Administration data. The table below...

WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Marines are trying to commit suicide at a record pace this year, despite a program begun last year aimed at preventing such attempts, Corps data indicate. Statistics indicate 89 Marines tried to take their own lives through May, most often by overdose or by cutting, USA Today reported. Projections indicate there will be more than 210 attempted suicides this year, military officials said. In 2009 a record 164 attempted suicides were recorded. The Marines last year introduced a training program for sergeants and corporals aimed at suicide education, urging them to learn more about...

One option is a mandatory retirement savings program to supplement Social Security. Workers would be required to set aside a fixed percentage of earnings and invest them in generic funds—equities, public debt, private debt, real estate, commodities and cash. For those who fail to designate a percentage allocation for each fund, a default program would take effect. (Participants always would have the option of regaining control.) As workers near retirement age, their holdings would be automatically rebalanced in a more conservative direction. One version of this proposal calls for “progressive matching,” in which low-earning individuals receive a subsidy equal to...

The US revealed the size of its nuclear arsenal last night in an unprecedented attempt to galvanise efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, announced the declassification of one of the Pentagon’s most closely guarded secrets at the opening day of a critical international meeting on global disarmament. The Pentagon’s figures show that the US stockpile consists of 5,113 nuclear warheads and “several thousand” more retired warheads that await dismantling. The figures reveal an 84 per cent reduction from the historic peak of 31,225 warheads in 1967 at the height of the...

A Muslim man has confessed to killed his wife and three others in Chicago this month because she refused to wear Muslim garb and adopt his new-found faith. He is one of many to have converted to Islam in American prisons. The confessed murderer is James A. Larry, 31, who confessed to the crime and expressed no remorse. During his most recent prison term, between 2002 and 2007, he began receiving visits by imams through the Islamic prison outreach program. “He became increasingly radicalized with orthodox Islamic beliefs," a detective on the case said, "ultimately demanding compliance to fundamentalist Islam...

The incredible cash flow of the clubs has attracted intense interest from the IRS. In an effort to make the cash transaction reporting rules clearly understood, IRS agents from the criminal and civil divisions recently conducted two meetings with more than 40 high-level local nightclub managers. Las Vegas IRS Special Agent in Charge Paul Camacho confirmed the meetings. The prevailing theme: Monitor cash customers responsibly, or Uncle Sam will.

...the hedge fund’s cagey bet on Rahm? Litowitz and his wife had never before made significant political donations. In 2005, they started giving to Rahm and his PACs, and only PACs connected to Rahm, just before the Magnetar CDO program began, and continued through the first quarter of 2008, when the trade would have started to pay out handsomely. The Litowitzs gave a total of $8,000 to Emanuel and $10,000 to his Our Common Values PAC in May 2005. In 2006 and 2007, they contributed $51,700 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, while Emanuel was chairman. We have been advised...

The NATIONAL ENQUIRER can exclusively report that Rielle Hunter has decided to give Oprah access to her Charlotte, NC home for a TV interview that will air during May sweeps. "Rielle is super excited to have Oprah come into her home," an insider told The ENQUIRER exclusively.

WASHINGTON, April 5 (Reuters) - The Internal Revenue Service could tap individual tax returns to collect fines against people who fail to buy health insurance as required under recently enacted healthcare legislation, the U.S. tax commissioner said on Monday. Most individuals are required to get health insurance under the new law, or face penalties that would be phased in over time. By 2016, people without coverage could see fines of 2 percent of their income. Subsidies would help poorer people buy coverage, and states would set up exchanges to allow individuals and small groups shop for insurance. People who do...